Dual N-Back Task
Working memory task that requires participants to monitor and respond when stimuli (letters/numbers and/or spatial positions) match those presented n trials back.
Participants view a series of stimuli that can include visual letters/numbers, auditory letters/numbers, and/or spatial positions in a 3x3 grid. They press the left key when the letter/number dimension matches n-back, and the right key when the spatial position matches n-back. The task supports single or dual n-back conditions with configurable n values (typically 1-3). Practice trials introduce each dimension separately before combining them. The task uses event-driven response collection allowing responses in any order during dual-task trials.
Measures: Working memory capacity, executive function, attention, dual-task processing, n-back performance
- Task supports single dimension (letters/numbers OR spatial) or dual n-back (both simultaneously)
- Supports auditory, visual, or combined audio-visual presentation for letter/number dimension
- Practice blocks introduce each dimension separately before dual-task trials
- Event-driven response system allows responses in any order during trials
- Response keys are conditionally registered based on active dimensions
- Visual feedback provided by bolding response labels when keys are pressed
- Default settings based on Jaeggi et al. methodology: 4 dim1 targets, 4 dim2 targets, 2 both targets per block
| test1 | First dimension. Is made up of two parts: the stimulus type (consonants or numbers) and the modality (-a, -v, or -av) or 'none' (not in quotes). I.e., consonants-a for auditory consonants. (default: consonants-av) |
| test2 | Secondary nback dimension. either squares or none (which is a single-d n-back) (default: squares) |
| nMin | Shortest N to test (0 or 1) (default: 1) |
| nMax | Longest N to test (default: 3) |
| isi | ISI of stimuli, in ms (default: 3000) |
| dim1targs | In each block, how many targets match only on dimension-1 (default: 4) |
| dim2targs | In each block, how many targets match only on dimension-2 (default: 4) |
| bothtargs | In each block, how many targets match both d1 and d2 (default: 2) |
| trialsperblock | Total trials per block. Should be greater than sum of dim1targs,dim2targs, and bothtargs. (default: 20) |
| responsemode | Response mode for accessibility. Options: auto (platform-detected), keyboardSafe (F/J keys), arrowLR (left/right arrows), mousebutton (left/right mouse buttons), userselect (user chooses at runtime). (default: auto) |
| Validation | validated |
| Psychometric data | Available |
| Normative data | Not available |
| subnum | block | trial | dim1 | dim2 | nDim | n | isi | d1 | d2 | d3 | d4 | dotext | doaudio | dospatial | timestart | resp1 | corr1 | time2 | rta | resp2 | corr2 | time3 | rtb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| example | p1 | 1 | consonants-av | none | 1 | 1 | 3000 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 12298 | <timeout> | 1 | 15048 | 15048 | <timeout> | 1 | 15048 | 15048 |
| example | p1 | 2 | consonants-av | none | 1 | 1 | 3000 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 15304 | LETTER | 1 | 534 | 534 | <timeout> | 1 | 18054 | 18054 |
| example | p1 | 3 | consonants-av | none | 1 | 1 | 3000 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 18308 | <timeout> | 1 | 21058 | 21058 | <timeout> | 1 | 21058 | 21058 |
| example | p1 | 4 | consonants-av | none | 1 | 1 | 3000 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 21312 | LETTER | 1 | 751 | 751 | <timeout> | 0 | 24062 | 24062 |
| example | p1 | 5 | consonants-av | none | 1 | 1 | 3000 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 24315 | <timeout> | 1 | 27065 | 27065 | <timeout> | 0 | 27065 | 27065 |